NH Discretionary Funding Fiscal Year 2016

The Monadnock Region System of Care project is a comprehensive regional plan to improve the behavioral health outcomes of children and youth with serious emotional disturbance by building and engaging infrastructure capacity to create a comprehensive system of care approach and implement wraparound. We will impact up to 4,827 youth in the Region estimated to have a mental disorder; wraparound will serve 35-45 annually, 140-180 total. Key project objectives include creating a governance board, meaningfully involving families and youth at the policy and system level and in the planning and delivery of services, training the workforce on system of care, creating partnerships between providers and with related initiatives, creating peer support services, broadening the array of available services and supports, and creating a care management structure to implement wraparound. This plan is youth-guided, family-driven, community-based, collaborative and culturally and linguistically appropriate for our community.

NAMI New Hampshire (National Alliance on Mental Illness) will provide New Hampshire families and youth with serious emotional disturbances (SED) with the framework and infrastructure (the New Hampshire Family Network) to improve outcomes for children/youth with SED and transform the state's children's behavioral health system to ultimately create improved population health outcomes. The project will serve parents/caregivers of children/youth with SED, as well as youth/young adults living with SED up to age 26, if they are transitioning to an individual service plan (ISP) in the adult mental health system. Activities will be designed to address behavioral health issues specific to New Hampshire families: substance misuse, needs of military families, suicide risk that children/youth with SED face, increased risk for depression and suicide among LGBTQ youth, and unique needs of New Hampshire's minority and refugee populations.

The goal of the SS/HS State Program is to increase the number of New Hampshire children and youth who have access to behavioral health services, decrease the number of students who abuse substances, increase the capacity of our community agencies to provide early childhood development services, improve school climate, and reduce the number of children who are exposed to violence, including decreasing the use of exclusionary discipline practices in our schools and early childhood programs. NH plans to provide prevention, early intervention, and intensive, evidence-based behavioral health services and supports to 2,500 children, youth and their families per year, and 10,000 over four years, in three Local Educational Authorities - Concord, Laconia, and Rochester. Youth in NH communities struggle with some of the highest substance abuse rates in the country and suspension and bullying rates that are higher than national averages. Additionally, all three selected LEAs poverty indicators are higher than state averages. The six measurable goals are: 1) Developing and sustaining a formal state-level collaborative cross-agency structure for identifying needs, implementing evidence-based practices, sharing and targeting data and resources, changing policy, and implementing cross-discipline professional development, 2) Substantially improve the social and emotional skills and preparedness for long-term educational success of young children, birth through five years, 3) Substantially improve the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youth and reduce school violence, bullying, behavior problems, suspensions, substance abuse, and punitive/exclusionary discipline practices, 4) Substantially improve the behavioral health outcomes of the highest-need children, youth, and their families/caregivers, 5) Substantially improve the engagement of families and youth in decision-making at all levels, and 6) Substantially reduce risk factors

New Hampshire Dept. of Education NH Families and Systems Together (FAST) Forward for Children and Youth 2020 will support the expansion and sustainability of a state level system of care (SOC) for children, youth, and their families. The resulting infrastructure will expand the array of supports for children/- youth with a diagnosable serious emotional disturbance (SED) who are involved with two or more systems and who are at-risk for out-of-home placement. NH FAST Forward 2020 will serve children and youth aged 0-21with an emotional, socio-emotional, behavioral or mental health disorder diagnosable under the DSMV who meet the criteria for SED and their families. The catchment area of this project is statewide.

Built on the foundation of ECCS, Spark NH was created to promote a comprehensive system of early childhood programs and services to realize its vision that all New Hampshire children and their families are healthy, learning, and thriving now and in the future. Using a life course approach, New Hampshire will address health risks early in the life span and at critically sensitive developmental periods when prevention, early intervention and health promotion can yield strong benefits. As the pilot community for Project LAUNCH NH, Manchester will meet goals through the expansion and enhancement of evidence-based services. The Manchester team proposes to increase screening and assessment; integrate behavioral health interventions into primary care practice; increase identification and treatment of behavioral health issues in child care and Head Start; improve social and emotional wellbeing of young children through enhanced home visiting services; and improve families' ability to support the multidimensional needs of their children through training and education.

Riverbend Community Mental Health (Riverbend) in Merrimack County, New Hampshire (NH) will integrate primary health care services and wellness activities within its community-based behavioral health center in Concord, NH and create a culturally competent and person-centered health home to be called Riverbend's Integrated Center for Health (RICH). The goal is to improve the physical health status of the population of focus: adults with serious mental illness (SMI) and those with co-occurring substance use disorders in Merrimack County who have or are at risk for co-morbid primary care conditions and chronic diseases. Emphasis will be on 1) those who have no Primary Care Provider (PCP) or who have a PCP but don't follow through with appointments or otherwise have poor management of any chronic metabolic disease or health conditions, including those with histories of trauma, and 2) those with severe psychotic or major mood disorders or those who are otherwise extremely disorganized/impaired as a direct result of their SMI such that symptoms get in the way of: understanding physical health needs, engaging in preventive care, negotiating public transportation, interpersonal effectiveness, and follow up activities (such as lab work) and keeping a calendar, and 3) those who would benefit from Wellness Activities to support improved health and functioning. Services will be delivered to: 100 clients in Year 1, 250 clients in Year 2, 400 clients in Year 3, and 500 clients in Year 4.

UNH aims to expand the network of services to students through growing the Campus Suicide Prevention Committee (CSPC), enhancing in-person and online suicide prevention trainings, as well as offering more tailored and sustainable programs and educational materials to the campus focused on students particularly at high school. To specify objectives, we intend to consult with the Jed & Clinton Foundation Health Matters Campus Program. We will improve means restriction; expand the safety net through offering best practices trainings; expand the safety net through further promoting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and existing emergency mental health services for at-risk students; develop culturally competent educational materials and programs; and develop tailored materials for the family members of students. We plan to infuse our efforts into UNH's current social norms campaign, YOU CAN HELP consistent with our view that suicide prevention is a community concern. We anticipate an increase in referrals to and consultations with the Counseling Center and the Behavioral Intervention Team, particularly from the aforementioned at-risk student groups. This data will be collected in the aggregate. The Project Director will be responsible for overseeing the grant activities as well as continual analysis of program data and performance through consultation with the Assistant Director and the CSPC.

New Hampshire Partnership for Success Initiative
New Hampshire's PFS will: 1) prevent and reduce underage and high risk drinking and prescription drug misuse among youth; and 2) prevent and reduce underage and high risk drinking; prescription drug misuse, particularly prescription opioid misuse; and heroin use among young adults. These goals will be accomplished by meeting measurable objectives including: 1) expanding the current Partnership for Success Student Assistance Programs for youth to a new cohort of PFS2 sub-recipients in schools in high-need communities and 2) by identifying and mobilizing new high-need communities to establish readiness and resources for best practice implementation for young adults using the SPF process of assessment, capacity building, planning, implementation and evaluation at the community level.

The Coalition will prevent and reduce youth substance use by implementing the following strategies: increase community collaboration; enforcing the Life of an Athlete & Model School Policy; and developing social marketing campaigns.

Bridging the Gaps: Rochester Community Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Prevention